Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/379

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BRADFORD
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cation of the "Pennsylvania Journal," which was transformed into the "True American " in 1801. — Thomas, printer, b. in Philadelphia, Pa„ 4 May, 1745; d. there, 7 May, 1888, was a son of Col. William, and, after leaving the college of Phila- delphia, entered his father's printing-office, and became his partner and associate editor of the " Pennsylvania Journal," which he transformed into the " True American " in 1801. It was printed in the same building occupied by his great-uncle, Andrew, at No. 8 Front street. In 1775 he became captain of a military company in Philadelphia, and later was commissary-general of the Pennsyl- vania division of the continental army. After the establishment of the federal government he be- came printer to congress. He was one of the founders of the philosophical society. His son, Thomas, was a philanthropic lawyer of Philadel- phia, b. in that city, 11 Sept., 1781 ; d. there, 35 Oct., 1851. — William, jurist, another son of Col. William, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., 14 Sept., 1755 ; d. 23 Aug., 1795. He was graduated at Princeton in 1772, studied law with Edward Shippen, and was admitted to the bar of the supreme court in 177!). His legal studies were interrupted by the events of the revolution. When the Philadelphia militia was called out and formed a flying camp, he served as major of brigade to Gen. Roberdeau, and after his term expired accepted the command of a company in Col. Hampton's regiment of regular troops. Soon afterward he was given the place of deputy muster master-general, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, in which capacity he served for two years, until failing health impelled him to re- sign his commission and I'eturn home. In 1780 he was appointed attorney-general of Pennsylvania. He married in 1784 a daughter of Elias Boudinot, of New Jersey. When the judiciary was reorgan- ized under the new constitution of Pennsylvania, he was appointed, on 22 Aug.. 1791, a judge of the supreme court. On 8 Jan., 1794, he succeeded Ed- mund Randolph as attorney-general of the United States by the appointment of President Washing- ton, which office he held until his death. In early life he wrote pastoral poems in imitation of Shen- stone, which were published in the " Philadelphia Magazine." In 1793 he published "An Inquiry how far the Punishment of Death is Necessary in Pennsylvania," an essay in the form of a report for the use of the legislature, prepared at the request of Gov. Mifflin, which brought about a mitigation of the penal laws of Pennsylvania, a reform that was followed by other states.


BRADFORD, William, physician, b. in Plymp- ton, Mass., 4 Nov., 1729 ; d. in Bristol, R. I., 6 July, 1808. He was a descendant of Gov. Bradford, studied medicine and practised in Warren, R. I., removed to Bristol, where he built a fine residence, and there studied and practised law, attaining a high rank in the profession. He was a member of the Rhode Island committee of correspondence in 1773, was chosen deputy governor of Rhode Island the same year, and was elected a delegate from Rhode Island to the continental congress, but never took his seat. When Bristol was bom- barded by Capt. Wallace on 7 Oct., 1775, in re- venge for the removal of the cattle, Gov. Bradford went on board " The Rose," and treated with the British commander for the cessation of the can- nonade. His own house, among others, was ig- nited by the fire of the enemy and destroyed. In 1793 he was elected U. S. senator from Rhode Isl- and. On 6 July, 1797, he was chosen president of the senate pro fempore, and later in that year he resigned his seat.


BRADFORD, William, painter, b. in New Bedford. Mass., in 1827; d. there, 25 April. 1892. He was brought up to mercantile business, but practised painting in his leisure hours, and in mid- dle life, after failing in business, adopted it as a profession. He began by painting ships at Lynn and in other harbors, and became known as a care- ful and accurate portrayer of all varieties of ves- sels. He then made extensive studies of the coast scenery of New England and British North Ameri- ca as far as Labrador, and with the same fidelity to detail that characterized his delineations of shipping painted picturesque sketches of coast not before visited by artists. In depicting the forms and motions of waves and the aspect of the sea in storms, he produced realistic effects not ob- tained by previous painters. His accuracy of ob- servation and drawing are best seen in his studies in colors and India ink ; for his painted canvases have not the variety of his sketches, and are some- what hard in manner, although he improved in his handling of the brush and the use of pigments through two years' association with Van Beest, with whom he occupied the same studio in Pair- haven. Subsequently Mr. Bradford extended his. studies to the Arctic regions. With Dr. Hayes and others he made excursions to the ice-fields of the North Atlantic, in a vessel chartered by him, and sketched floes and bergs and the coast scenery of the frozen regions. The ice-scenes that he painted from these studies attracted attention both in Eng- land and America. His " Steamer Panther among Icebergs and Field-Ice in Melville Bay, under the Light of the Midnight Sun," was purchased by Queen Victoria, and was exhibited with her per- mission at the royal academy in 1875. Among his other notable works are " Fishing-Boats in the Bay of Fundy " ; " Shipwreck oft' Nantucket " ; "Lighthouse in St. John Harbor"; "Fishing- Boats getting under Way " ; " The Island of Grand Menan " ; " Fishing-Boats at Anchor " ; " Sudden Squall in the Bay of Fundy " ; "A Stiff Breeze in the Harbor of Eastport " ; " The Coast of Labra- dor " ; " Crushed by Icebergs " ; " Boarding the Sloop " ; and " Sunset in the North " and " Arctic Scene," exhibited in the national academy. New York, in 1886.


BRADISH, Luther, statesman, b. in Cumming- ton, Mass., 15 Sept., 1783; d. in Newport, R. I., 30 Aug., 18G3. He was graduated at Williams in 1804, and studied law in New York. After a tour in Europe, he em- barked, in 1820, on board the U. S. ship-of-war "Columbus" for the Mediterra- nean, for the purpose of col- lecting informa- tion respecting the commerce of the Levant, pre- liminary to the establishment of diplomatic rela- tions with the porte. At the

conclusion of his

mission he travelled over Europe and the east, and in 1826 re- turned to New York. About the same time he removed to Franklin co., N. Y. He was a member